Publications

Winter 2013
Article

The New Patent Intermediaries: Platforms, Defensive Aggregators and Super-Aggregators

By: Andrei Hagiu and David B. Yoffie

The patent market consists mainly of privately negotiated, bilateral transactions, either sales or cross-licenses, between large companies. There is no eBay, Amazon, New York Stock Exchange, or Kelley's Blue Book equivalent for patents, and when buyers and sellers do... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Platforms; Intermediaries; Aggregator; Patents; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Distribution Channels

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21 Aug 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively

Source: peterhowell Big data has shifted the ground under every business, enough so that many managers are waking up to the fact that they are already behind in developing a smart data strategy. Data has always been important in business, of course. But with the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 2020
Case

Guild Education: Unlocking Opportunity for America's Workforce

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael D. Smith, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Founded in 2015, Guild Education is an education marketplace that connects employers and universities to provide employees with ‘education as a benefit.’ The Denver-based company is transforming traditional tuition assistance programs by facilitating direct payment by... View Details

Keywords: Education; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Employees; Social Enterprise; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Colorado

Web

Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

Building a zero-fee money transfer platform for African migrants. Feather Health Kirsten Soong (MBA 2022) Daniel Navarro Mariya Rivkin (MBA 2022) Social Enterprise Track Runner-Up An AI driven digital platform to help people with chronic... View Details

26 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews

constituting a 1.8 to 3.2 percent reduction in sold-out probability. "I hope regulators will start seeing all these pieces of digital data as useful in helping them do a better job." They also compared hygiene compliance across... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Retail

01 Jun 2024
News

Competing in the Age of AI

chair of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard and the coauthor of the book Competing in the Age of AI. He likens the sometimes-awkward process of embracing these technological shifts to learning to... View Details

Keywords: April White

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

at some of the social media missteps brands have taken over the past decade–and the lessons we’ve learned from them. Prioritizing technology over substance Maybe it’s because the medium seems so ephemeral, but View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Technology; Technology

01 Jun 2023
News

Buy Big, Sell Small

cofounder of ApnaKlub, a wholesale digital platform that helps kirana owners aggregate their buying power and access credit tools and other services. “These are micro businesses that run on tight margins. If shopkeepers run out of... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; retail; supply chain management; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

Web

Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

financing models for the non-profit sector. Recent Publications Khabar Lahariya By: Ranjay Gulati and Kanika Jain June 2025 | Case | Faculty Research Founded and run entirely by women, Khabar Lahariya was a leading digital media portal,... View Details

Web

HBS Alumni Conference: Accelerating Climate Solutions - Alumni

and child-welfare agencies. Bonita C. Stewart (MBA 1983) Board Partner, Gradient Ventures Bonita C. Stewart (MBA 1983) Board Partner, Gradient Ventures Bonita Stewart has extensive consumer technology and operational experience, as her... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

provides and make the city cleaner, safer, and healthier. “We haven’t really changed the way we collect trash in decades,” Tisch says. She aims to fix that. Over the past year, Tisch has leveraged a combination of administrative and View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

08 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

Media outlets large and small have adopted digital paywalls to augment dramatic declines in print revenues, but given their negative effect on website traffic (and, in turn, online advertising), are paywalls an effective sales strategy? A... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Journalism & News; Media & Broadcasting

January 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Google Inc.

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Network Effects; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Data-Driven Denim: Financial Forecasting at Levi Strauss

By: Mark Egan

The case examines Levi Strauss’ journey in implementing machine learning and AI into its financial forecasting process. The apparel company partnered with the IT company Wipro in 2017 to develop a machine learning algorithm that could help Levi Strauss forecast its... View Details

Keywords: Investor Relations; Forecasting; Machine Learning; Artificial Intelligence; Apparel; Corporate Finance; Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

01 Dec 2023
News

Engaging Students More Deeply

Students at Success Academy stay more focused on the dot rug. Photo courtesy HBS Multimedia Development To tell the compelling stories of a developer working to revitalize Miami Beach, a Maine lobsterman confronting the economic risks of climate change, and a charter... View Details

Keywords: April White

February 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea – helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games

By: Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Julian Runge

One of the most crucial aspects and significant levers that gaming companies possess in designing digital games is setting the level of difficulty, which essentially regulates the user’s ability to progress within the game. This aspect is particularly significant in... View Details

Keywords: Freemium; Retention/churn; Field Experiment; Field Experiments; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Monetization; Monetization Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Customers; Retention; Product Design; Strategy

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August 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

C3.ai—Driven to Succeed

By: Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

CEO Tom Siebel navigates his artificial intelligence (ai) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading platform ad service provider. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee... View Details

October 2018
Article

Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com

By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu

Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Complementors; Co-opetition; Entry; Platform-based Markets; Competition; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy